I woke to Sam and Maya standing over me. Angry voices were arguing in the background.
“They’re not scared,” I heard Tatos shout out. “They’re willing to die just to get this girl. How could we not have known that they would be watching?”
“Watching from where?” Enoch snapped. “We have taken precautions.”
“Well they don’t seem to be working.” Tatos retorted.
“He is right.” Anaya answered.
I sat up immediately and noticed that I had an audience. The Council, Nomsa and Kronan were deep in conversation.
“A cloak and dagger spell.” I heard Kronan blurt out.
“They’re relentless,” Tatos said. “I’ll kill every single last one of them.”
I had never heard Tatos so angry before.
“We have to do something. We can’t wait any longer. We have to attack before they do.” Willard was speaking now.
Tatos banged his fists down on the table loudly. I jumped. So did Maya and Sam. We all exchanged a look of horror.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Maya.
“The Shadow. He’s been here in our village, and he has more than one doll of you, Ava,” she said glumly, her hands shaking. “He’s getting stronger, Ava. We don’t know why or how. Mom has tried to locate his position a few times.”
I gave her a startled look. “That’s why she’s been so tired, isn’t it?” I asked.
I jumped up. The resulting dizziness was aggressive and made me sway. Maya took my hand to steady me.
“No!” I shouted.
The room fell silent. All eyes turned to me.
“I won’t let you or anybody else risk their life for me.” I looked at Kronan. “Teach me,” I said determinedly. “You should have done so the moment I got back; I don’t know what you’re waiting for. The Change is almost complete – I can feel it.”
A wall of blank faces stared back at me.
“This ends today!” I shouted, turning toward Sam who was clutching my hand so tightly, I couldn’t feel my fingers any longer.
Kronan came to stand beside me. I braced myself for his response.
“Teach me to use my mind. I want him dead.” I looked Kronan straight in the eye as he sat down on a small table in front of me.
“If only it were that simple,” he began.
I frowned and looking up noticed that everyone had silently left the room. Kronan nodded.
“You are one of a kind,” he said with a comforting smile, his pipe hanging off his lip.
“You keep saying that!” I yelled back at him. “What am I?”
A small hand touched me on my shoulder. Nomsa walked around the couch and sat down beside me. Sam moved away immediately, but Maya came closer wanting to be part of the conversation as much as possible. After all, she was part of everything going down. When Nomsa’s evil brother finds out she is my sister, he will target her too. I was sure of it. Outside, the Council members gathered at the door with Arriana.
“Tea anyone?” Anaya’s melodic voice broke the silence.
No one answered her, her attempt at lightening up the mood failing.
“Well, Ava. I’ll give it to you straight.”
Nomsa’s hand left my shoulder for the first time since she had placed it there. She shot Kronan a look of consent and squeezed my hand a bit tighter.
“You have been cursed, my dear,” Kronan said, leaning in to take a closer look at my eyes.
“Cursed?”
I jumped up from the couch again. Hugging myself, I slowly walked over to the fireplace. What did that mean? Anaya put the tea tray down and came to stand next to me, her hand stroking my back.
“What does this all mean, Anaya?” Tears welled up in my eyes. “I thought it was blood magic?”
“It is.” She noted bitterly. “I am afraid we do not understand this kind of craft at all. It is too ancient for us to have any kind of knowledge about it.”
I swallowed, the heat of the large flames burning my face. I turned away from them.
“Sweetheart,” she said kindly, leading me back to the sofa by my arm. “Arriana did succeed in tapping into his conscience.” Her face turned pale.
“He is planning of bringing the spirit of the ancient King Shaka back.”
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head. “Why?” I asked, catching a glimpse of a tear in Maya’s dull eyes. She felt it too, the shadow coming for me.
“Don’t bother her with the details! Just let her know that no harm will come to anyone as long as we are here to protect them,” Tatos said from the door.
“From now on, I will do everything in my power to protect these girls from the evil that has threatened us for so long!”
“Calm down, boy!” Enoch shouted, coming face to face with Tatos.
“We cannot bring her back. She’s gone,” Willard said suddenly beside them.
“No thanks to him!” Tatos glared at Enoch, pushing him backwards against the door.
With one swing of Enoch’s fist, Tatos fell against the shelves knocking off most of the books. Tatos ran at Enoch, but Willard stepped in. He may have been shorter than the rest of his clan, but he was a lot faster. He came between the two tall men before they collided. Enoch was standing with a switchblade ready in his hand.
“Enough!” The windows shook as Kronan’s voice boomed throughout the cottage.
Sam was suddenly back beside me. Nomsa just stood there. Tatos looked around furiously, giving all of us a dirty look and slammed the door behind him as he left.
“Enoch!” It was the first time I had heard Anaya raise her voice. “Leave him,” she said bluntly, on noticing Enoch wanting to chase after him.
“Fine,” he spat and strode past us as he made his way toward his room.
Somehow, I knew he was overreacting, which only meant he was trying to hide something by distracting us like that.
“It’s not my fault she left him. It’s not my fault she’s gone,” he mumbled.
I was confused. There was so much tension and anger, and I still had no idea what the hell was going on. I stood in front of the fire and stared at the flames, trying to remember a time when I was happy and dancing around just like the flames in front of me.
“Sam?” I turned to find her.
“Yes, friend. I am here.”
“Why did you come back? I thought you had left.” It was my time for interrogation.
“I did leave, but I came back to tell you that… Ava, I’m not with Troy. It was Robert who came to pick me up.” Her eyes dropped to the floor. “I wanted to make you jealous. I’m sorry.”
I watched Maya and Nomsa move toward the kitchen where Anaya an Arriana had started brewing up more sedative potions.
I watched Sam watching me, and felt everyone was acting suspicious all of a sudden.
“On the beach… it was Troy. I’m sure of it,” I said numbly.
“It was honey. Troy was waiting for us on the bridge. He forced it out of me, Ava.”
“What?” I spat nervously.
Sam explained how she had spilled the beans on me and Enoch, and that Troy would find me to tell me the truth himself.
“What truth Sam?” I crossed my arms defensively.
Sam stared blankly at Maya as she came closer upon noticing our argument.
“I’m sorry, Maya, but both of you need to know this.” She swallowed hard before she continued. She always did that when she was nervous.
I could hear Nomsa and Kronan’s voices at the entrance now. They were talking about Arriana and how drained she was. They also said that the Shadow was having his way with us; wearing us down.
“When I told him about…” Sam hesitated.
My mind focused on her.
“…that you had moved on, he freaked. He accused Enoch of being a spy and that he was responsible for everything bad that had ever happened to you.” She took my hand.
“He told me that he wants you to move on as he thinks you are better off withou
t him, but he doesn’t want Enoch to be the one.”
“That’s ridiculous. He’s just jealous,” I spat. “He has no right!” I added, ripping my hand from Sam’s.
“Jealous of what?” Maya asked softly.
“Oh. Did the princess not tell you?” Sam began.
I cut her off viciously. “Shut up, Sam. You’ll ruin everything!”
“Ruin what, Ava?” Maya’s eyes cut through mine.
I stalked off to Maya’s room. It all felt wrong. The world was spinning under my feet. It’s not true, I assured myself. Why, when I have finally found something I wanted, I couldn’t have it? Why? Why are these things happening to me? I wished it was all over. I wished that I had never been born.
Sam came through the door, Maya trailing behind her, her crutches softly tapping against the wooden floor as she neared. I turned. Maya seemed hurt and disappointed.
“You’re wrong,” Sam declared. “It makes sense,” she said bluntly.
But I didn’t let her finish. “You’re jealous, too,” I spat.
Her face hardened, her lips compressed into a thin line. I could see she was biting back something she wanted to say.
“You’re so used to being the center of attention. Now that that has been taken away from you…” The words just tumbled out of my mouth. I had no way of stopping them. I couldn’t believe what I had said.
“Bitch!” Sam spat and turned away.
She left silently. My heart sank.
“Everything is falling apart and it’s all because of me.”
I fell on the bed and loudly swallowed my tears.
“Don’t think like that, Ava.” Maya said softly, her voice close to my ear.
I looked up.
“Where is Troy now?” I sniffed expectantly.
“Troy?” She seemed surprised. “He and Enoch got into it again.” She snickered. “Now I know why.”
“Oh,” was all I said, wondering how it had gotten so complicated, so quickly. I thought I should perhaps stay away from all males, that maybe I was not meant to be happy, just cursed and broken. Was this part of my destiny? I started to cry.
“Ava, please don’t.” Maya said, her voice wavering somewhat. I flinched at the sound of her crutches hitting the floor; I was a nervous wreck by then.
“You’ll get through this. I know it.”
“How?” I asked her. “How will we get through this when those monsters are on the brink of unleashing a war, and for what? For me? Well, they can have me!” I spat out.
“Take that back.” Anaya came through the door, her voice shaky – a first.
“I can’t take this anymore,” I said.
“Yes, you can,” Anaya stated. “Pull yourself together. It’s time for you to step up. Our time is running out.” Anaya’s gaze fell on Maya, whose distant eyes fell on me. “We have a responsibility to our people.”
I realized she was right. I realized that I had put myself out there, but I had played the game like a coward. Two boys are dead because of me. They want me, so they will get me. I vowed to not let anyone else get hurt and to become what I was meant to become, even if that meant I would always be alone.
Later that night, Maya and I lay in her bed staring out the window, at the fog closing in on us. You could barely see the moons glowing that night. The fact that it was darker than usual made me extremely edgy. I had left my Ipod with Sam, so I rolled my screen out and stuck it on the smooth surface of the window, unfolded the keyboard and scrolled through my tunes. Most times, music was my only friend. The dull glow from my screen illuminated the room. I watched Maya fall asleep in my arms, her steady breathing putting me at ease for a brief moment. In some strange way, all of this had improved my life. I had more riding on my supposed destiny than I could ever have imagined. I lay against the wall watching the starless night as my mind emptied. I let every single negative thought wash away. I was so tired, but sleep eluded me. I lay there wondering. I was always wondering. I wondered about Enoch and I wondered what he was doing. I wondered about Troy and I wondered why he had freaked out like that. He doesn’t want me, but when he can’t have me, I’m precisely what he wants. I smiled wickedly at the thought. In that way we were the same. I lay staring at the window as it began to frost up at the corners of the bars. I wondered if they had always barred their windows. I scanned the room in thought. No shadows played on the wall that night. There was nothing but cold silence as my laptop’s battery died out and the faint glow of my screen faded to black. I couldn’t stand the silence any longer. I got out of bed and pulled a sweater over my head, flattening my hair as I headed out in search of Enoch. But, I abruptly stopped behind the passage wall when I heard Enoch talking about Sage. I sat down behind the wall where they could not see me and leaned in closer.
“It’s no one’s fault. No one saw it coming, but we can help your sister and Ava. We can prevent the same thing from happening to them. We now know what it is that he wants.” Tatos’ voice was tired and devoid of any emotion. “They’re special, those two girls, and it’s our duty as warriors of Poseidon to protect what is rare.”
“To save the planet.” Enoch laughed.
“We have an army at our disposal.”
“An army?”
“You heard what Troy said.”
“Troy.” Enoch’s voice was bitter. He spat into the fire, the sound of liquid sizzling as it evaporated echoed throughout the cottage.
“I’ve never hated anyone as much as I hate that arrogant asshole.” He said.
Tatos cleared his throat. “Get over yourself, Enoch. This isn’t about you. You can understand his suspicions, can’t you?”
“Excuse me?!”
“Think about it, Enoch. First, it was Sage – now you’ve dug your claws into Ava…” Tatos stood firm, his tone unyielding.
“I’ll kill you,” Enoch spat.
“I wish you would,” Tatos said.
“Take it back, Tatos,” Willard pleaded.
There was a long pause.
“I knew we should have burned them!” Willard said.
“What?” Enoch asked mildly.
“The first time we discovered the muti killings, we should have burned those two alive and made an example of them.”
“That’s not our way,” Tatos said clearly.
The negative energy was rubbing off on everyone. I shook my head. It needed to stop and soon, before we turned on each other – it was already happening.
“It might not be your way, Tatos, but I sure as hell can,” Enoch said.
Willard laughed. “That’s right, Tatos. He’s adopted, remember?”
Adopted? I was stunned. So Arriana had no kids of her own? I remember Anaya saying something about the ancients giving up their right to bear kids. In exchange for this, they held on to their powers when the time of the prophecy came.
I rested my head on my knees, wrapped my arms around my legs and closed my eyes. Arriana had given up a lot for this prophecy. The rhythmic talking of the three warriors and the crackling of the fire soothed me into a slow slumber. I leaned back into the wall and drifted off.
“No! She deserves more!” My whole body shook as I heard Tatos shouting at someone.
“I have genuine feelings for her and if she makes me happy, who are you to tell me otherwise? Besides, were you not involved with Sage against our wishes?”
“Before you stole her from me,” Tatos said, raising his voice again.
“She was too young for you,” Enoch said bluntly.
“I’m leaving.”
“Tell me how that was different, Tatos. Tell me!”
I peeked around the corner.
“Oh, boy. I’m out of here!” Willard walked toward the door and winked at me. Willard pulled his fur coat off the hanger. The blade of his sword reflected the orange glow of the fire as he turned to close the door. I quickly got up and cleared my throat as I entered the room.
“Great!” Tatos threw his hands up in the air and shot Enoch a dirty loo
k before turning to me. “Best you get to bed, Ava. There is nothing here for you.”
I could almost taste the tension in the air. The rotten taste of unresolved feelings hung there. All I could do was look down at my feet as Enoch walked toward me.
“You can’t leave,” Enoch said to Tatos with a grin. “It’s your shift, remember?” his smirk widened.
“I know that,” replied Tatos, as he watched Enoch lead me away.
The room fell silent.
“Did we wake you?” Enoch stood so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face. I struggled to keep the butterflies from exploding inside of my stomach.
“Not at all,” I said bravely.
I knew I needed to leave. I felt his intentions for me.
“Were you eavesdropping, young lady?”
I should have turned away and called it a night, but I had this unexplainable feeling inside me that made it impossible for me to walk away from him. All I wanted was his arms around me. I wanted him to tell me that everything would be okay. I felt like I had to let him know that I was suspicious and I needed him to kill my suspicions before I fell too deep. I looked up at him and my heart sank into my feet as he looked deep into my eyes, his glacier eyes drawing me in.
“You okay?” he asked softly as he leaned against the doorframe.
I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know where to start. Frozen, I kept my gaze on him. Say something, I prodded myself. I wanted something to break the ice between us. Leaning with his one hand against the wall, he towered over me. I knew exactly what his intentions were. I couldn’t deny them any longer.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I whispered looking down at my hands, wiggling the buttons of my favorite gray sweater.
I wanted to run so fast and so far, I wanted to run until I didn’t exist anymore. He placed one hand under my chin, lifting my face up to his and our lips met. The thumping of my heart drowned out every noise in the room. His lips left mine. I trembled.
“I would never hurt you, Ava. You have to believe me,” he whispered into my ear.
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